Russia’s Putin says hard to hold dialogue with US administration

It is hard to hold a dialogue with the current U.S. administration because it prefers diktat to dialogue, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.

Saying that Russia was worried about the worsening of its relations with the United States, Putin said Washington had financed Ukraine’s radical opposition and assisted a coup d’etat there. Russia was then forced to protect ethnic Russians living in Ukraine, he told an economic forum.

“There is a need to behave like partners and take each other’s interests into account,” Putin said, referring to U.S.-Russian ties. “We are ready for that.”